holoz0r's A-Z of Steam: Fable Anniversary - not ageing well, but at least it still functions

The Fable series defined an era of accessible, fun roleplaying games for a generation of Xbox 360 owners. It was just as popular as Gears of War, probably, even if it made less noise, and didn't make as much money, and didn't have as many sweaty teenage boys salivating over its gore and violence.

That is because Fable was always a series about being the good (or bad) guy, and making both sides glamorous in a charming, Nintendo-esque sort of theatre.

For the longest time (or at least, what felt like the longest time) Fable Anniversary was completely unplayable, beset by an unavoidable crash early in the game that went unpatched for the longest time.

I'm pleased to report that in my Steam edition of the game, this appears to be resolved, with the game steady over several hours of gameplay! Neat - we get what we pay for. What a remarkable change to the gaming industry!

Having said all of this - the game is far from perfect. There are still many issues that are finnicky and annoying. Targeting enemies (particularly large ones) sees you spin around to target nothing but thin air, causing some encounters to be so very annoying.

It isn't just a matter of "git guud" this is a function of the game that feels incredibly broken, even when playing on a controller.

Beyond this complaint, the gameplay loop is not as rewarding as it once was. The game is very grindy in terms of its experience model, with you gaining experience in various areas based on how you defeat your foes. It isn't quite the Elder Scrolls "do the thing, and get good at thing", but instead "succeed at the thing, and get good at thing", but then you use the points to specialise however you would like.

I wanted to jump into being a chain lightning warrior mage, and I upgraded my lightning to level two after a measly two hours, and it still felt underpowered. My god-fantasies will just have to wait until many more hours are sunk into the game, if indeed that is a thing that I ever wish to do.

Fable as a concept has a gameplay loop that either hooks you, or it doesn't. Once upon a time, when there where other games without what was seen to be (at the time) the deep mechanics of Fable, it worked.

Now, many years on from the release of this remaster, and many more on from the original release, there's better games to play.

This doesn't mean that the nostalgia isn't there - but ... for me; it isn't there. It doesn't hit the same way it used to do, way back on my Xbox 360, with countless hours spend exploring every single corner of the game world in a bid to become the richest, meanest most powerful and feared hero in all the realm.

Now there's games that let me do that in an entire galaxy; an entire planet, or hell, even in an entire "metaverse".

It will be interesting to see if the upcoming Fable game can rekindle the series, because from this very first title, and the vision granted to us by the year 2022, it feels as the game formula isn't as entertaining or as fun as it once were.

That is sad, but this is certainly a game that will see that nostalgia and a good thing from the past isn't always going to be perpetually awesome.

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Thanks as always for your time!